Rail

Metro-North continues real-time rollout

MTA Metro-North Railroad continues its roll out of real-time train information at outlying stations with the activation of four new LCD monitors in the waiting room and overpass at the Poughkeepsie station.

Poughkeepsie, which serves nearly 2,000 customers each day, becomes the seventh station in the Metro-North system to have LCD monitors that provide detailed information, such as departure or arrival time, track assignment and status, for the next nine trains, including Amtrak trains.

Eight existing platform signs that currently indicate only whether service is on time or delayed will be converted by early September to show the times of the next three trains, thanks to new software in New York City and operators in the railroad's Customer Communication Center in White Plains. They will show the arrival or departure time of the next three trains as well as the platform assignment, destination and status.

The platform signs, installed about 15 years ago, were programmed with the train schedule and only came to life when a delay occurred. The signs' sole purpose was to provide a visual display for the hard of hearing of whatever the public address system said in an audible announcement. The software upgrade vastly increases the amount of information that can be displayed.

The system Metro-North developed in-house already delivers real-time information to six other stations, where testing was conducted over the past year.